Police search finds gun; Student arrested

Bartlesville Police responded to Madison Middle School on Monday afternoon after a student was reported to have a gun on school grounds.

According to a press release issued byf BPD Capt. Jay Hastings, police responded to a call at approximately 2:10 p.m. Monday regarding a 14-year-old student who was reportedly carrying a gun while at school. Madison Middle School is located at 5900 SE Baylor Drive.

“School staff had called the student into the office; however, when confronted, he refused to be searched and left the building,” Hastings said.

The school was placed on exterior lockdown, according to Laci McClintock, Bartlesville Public Schools executive assistant to the superintendent. McClintock said exterior video cameras were used to monitor the student’s location.

A school resource police officer arrived and located the student, who was walking back toward the school from the west. Hastings said the student was detained by the officer and a search of the student did not reveal any handgun in his possession.

Other officers, including a K-9 unit, arrived and began a ground search of the area where the student had been, Hastings said. One of the student’s guardians also was brought onto the site.

“After determining that the student was in custody, the entire area of interest was secure, and students were safe, classes were dismissed normally,” McClintock said.

Eventually a K-9 officer’s dog found a handgun hidden on the school softball fields directly west of Madison School.

The 14-year-old was subsequently arrested for being in possession of a firearm.

Hastings said Tuesday morning that police were still attempting to determine if the firearm involved had been reported stolen.

“The detectives were off duty by the time it came back to the station, so they are going to be on that today,” he said.

Nearby Hoover Elementary School was not involved in the incident, according to an alert sent out to parents, and was not placed on lockdown.

“It all was over in 10 to 12 minutes and we didn’t want to have a panic at the school,” Hastings said. “(The student) was in handcuffs fairly shortly after the police were called and, of course, it took a little while to find the gun after that.”

EE reporter Tim Hudson contributed to this report.

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